Does a web designer need to understand HTML and CSS?

Alexey Pomogaev2011-09-10 05:50:47

HTML

Alexey Pomogaev, 2011-09-10 05:50:47

In fact, during development, new ideas arise and you need to introduce new features or change old ones. Thus, the project is not monolithic, but constantly changing.

I can roughly imagine how freelance designers work - they provide a template in PDF and this is where their work is over. But when the situation arises to implement / change new features, isn't it too much fuss - to inform the designer of new features, then the layout designer needs to detect new changes and make them.

In general, I have such a question for web designers - do you consider knowledge of HTML and CSS and the ability to independently make small changes to the layout a plus?

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11 answer(s)

Arthur Koch, 2011-09-10
@dudeonthehorse

A designer must have an understanding of HTML and CSS, not to make changes himself, but in order to imagine how this is implemented in practice. A banal example is a photo gallery on a website. The designer drew a non-standard view of the opening photo, but the client did not pay for its layout. And try to explain to the customer why you can screw up a “supposedly standard” plugin template, and not the one that the designer drew. An example is the first thing that came to mind. The bottom line is that you can draw a beautiful design, when it will be quite simply implemented. It's not about laziness, it's just why overexert yourself if the client isn't paying for something extremely unique.

Mikhail Osher, 2011-09-10
@miraage

I explained to designers what margin, padding, outline, border are. It came from the heart.

Kakysha, 2011-09-10
@kakysha

A good designer should not only understand such closely related things as HTML & CSS, but generally have at least a basic understanding of aspects of the web that are not directly related to its activities.

UseRifle, 2011-09-10
@UseRifle

A web designer with knowledge of HTML and CSS is very cool and expensive. And if js also knows jquery at the user level, there is no price at all.
There are few such people.
Of course, I do not take into account schoolchildren-students who have studied a “smart” book, or, God forbid, a video lesson, and who consider themselves “designers”.

Ivan Garbuz, 2011-09-10
@garbuzivan

If the design is also trying to be a layout designer, then very often he falls as a designer. because afraid to draw what he can't make up, and that's a lot. As a result, we get a design that is fragments of a great fantasy and the idea itself in my head loses its price.
You always need to give a goal, draw everything that is in your head and not think about the possibilities of the rest - in the present conditions, everything invented is easy to make up.

igorr, 2011-09-10
@igorr

Does a designer in printing industry have to understand the intricacies of the work of various printers and the properties of various materials?

vanxant, 2011-09-10
@vanxant

Everyone should only do what they are good at.
If a designer can make a good layout, go ahead, great, he's cool as hell.
If it can’t, then in general it’s okay, there are much more good layout designers than good designers.
In the past, indeed, there were some things that were very difficult to implement in html code. Designers had to be aware of these limitations.
But that was before the IE6 era, oddly enough.
Today, layout in layers is this direct tracing paper from Photoshop layers. If a layout designer cannot simply copy information from one file to another, then he is not professionally suitable.

itch625, 2011-09-10
@itch625

It seems to me that the designer should understand the basics of layout. I often met with the fact that the designer drew, but the layout designer did not make up.

Oleg Barabanov, 2012-10-22
@olegbarabanov

Designers are different. There are interior designers. There are concept car designers. There are many other design directions. And they all differ in technical orientation.
Just as a web interior designer must know all the details and nuances, so a web designer must understand what elements the frontend is built from. That's why he's called a "web designer".
My opinion is this:
A designer doesn't need to know CSS and HTML thoroughly, but he does need to know their capabilities. And controversial issues should be resolved together with the layout designer.
But if the question is asked on behalf of the leader, then I will add:
If the project is still being evaluated, then even more so, the designer must understand the basics. Why? Let's take as an example that you decided to do a project for 100 tr. development period 15 days (5 design + 5 layout + 5 programming). Moreover, the customer demanded full compatibility even with IE6 (included in the amount). You found the cost to be profitable. The typesetter is silent, because he does not yet know what exactly he will face. And for 5 days the designer is trying very hard to make a simple site, with taste, and with non-standard forms, and complex curly controls.
When a layout designer receives this marvel of art, creation and inspiration, he falls to the floor. It is necessary not only to lay out, but also to attach a bunch of plugins, make rounds on all elements in a row (which do not work natively in IE<9), add SVG|VML (or through Raphael.js) complex controls. Set up triggers so that it still works correctly. And it turns out that instead of 5 + 5 + 5 = it will take 5 + 10 + ~ time, because the programmer will get a terrible layout, and he will still have to fasten all sorts of AJAX.
At the same time, the designer will rejoice, because he did his job beautifully and on time, he deserves all the honors and awards. The layout designer will nervously smoke and the proger will curse everyone. And you, a smaller amount will come to the budget, because. consumption will increase significantly.

Konstantin Birzhakov, 2011-09-10
@KonstRuctor

A site drawn by a designer who is well versed in html / css layout and a site drawn by a designer who does not understand / does not want to understand anything in this are two different sites. Customers are generally more willing to accept the second option (from personal practice).

Dmitry Shvalyov, 2011-09-12
@dshster

Here the question is that the designer and the layout designer should work in pairs to some extent, namely, in order to estimate how much time and effort the layout designer will need to layout the design - the layout designer can have a budget of 10 u, and the designer will draw something , that he will have to make up for 100 ye (it is unlikely that the layout designer will work for free, realizing the designer's fantasies with his limited budget).
I understand that this is not correct, but it is difficult to explain to the customer the high cost of layout. The designer does not need to know the intricacies of layout and certainly does not need js at all, but it is necessary to roughly navigate the complexity of the layout of certain elements. (for example: stretching boxes with shadows and custom textures or shapes in css2 days)
By the way, the designer is a technical profession in which there are certain rules and requirements. If a designer does not understand or adhere to the technical rules, then he is not a designer, but an artist.